We share this land not only with native wildlife but also with the Indigenous peoples that reside here. But more than this, the deer around Kimberly, BC don’t belong to the people living in Kimberly, BC. Nor do the deer living in Oak Bay belong to the people of Oak Bay. Wildlife is regulated by and actually belong to all the people of British Columbia—not the people amongst which they happen to reside. So then how do we strike balance between the needs of landowners, wildlife, and the First Nations that all coexist here?

This lovely carving by Salish artist Charles Elliott (Temoseng) is part of the welcome panel at Oak Bay Municipal Hall—& clearly shows our deer are part of the natural environment in this beautiful place.

Firstly, we need to find a management strategy that is scientifically sound and endorsed by the Province of BC. That means that each and every management plan needs to pass scientific review at the municipal and provincial level. Without provincial approval, no management action can take place. These decisions cannot be made by a municipality for their residents alone, because wildlife does not belong to the municipality.

Secondly, we need to balance diverse perspectives on the value of wildlife both within and outside of urban settings. All perspectives have value, from those that would like to see deer removed from an urban setting through to those that feel that we must coexist with native species within their indigenous habitats. These are the diverse perspectives of landowners, renters, professionals, stay-at-home parents, island-born, immigrants, community groups, NGOs and the First Nations whose unceded traditional lands we all share.

The Songhees First Nation claims Oak Bay as part of their traditional territory, and so any management plan needs to have their explicit consent and support before the Province will agree to grant a permit. In the spirit of Reconciliation, we fully support the partnership with the Songhees First Nation and are conducting this research with their support. As peoples who have inhabited these lands for thousands of years, and who have coexisted with indigenous wildlife for the entirety of their history, it is understandable that they are opposed to a cull on their traditional lands.

Since no management permit can be issued without the support of the Province and First Nations, we are working to find solutions for management that satisfy the requirements of all the peoples of Greater Victoria. That means accepting that a cull is not a plausible management solution, and moving ahead with other non-lethal means of control that balance the needs of all us.

Your municipal government usually has some budgetary expenses related to urban wildlife management. So why not just get rid of the need for this repeated cost by eradicating deer from within municipal boundaries?

Well, it’s not that simple. The BC Provincial Veterinarian explains that for culling to be effective, it must occur annually. When the population is reduced quickly through a substantial cull, competition for mates among deer is reduced, birth rates are higher and the population grows faster. Similarly, with fewer animals competing for food and territories, the body condition of remaining deer improves, also resulting in higher birth rates and hence quicker population growth.

But in addition to the decrease in competition for mates and food resulting in fast population growth from the deer that remain, there’s another problem that can contribute to a quickly increasing deer population—immigration from areas outside the cull.

The sudden “void” in the population that is created by a cull provides opportunities for deer in adjacent regions to immigrate into the newly created competition-free landscape of abundant food. And so, the population once again grows quickly.

So, for culling to be an effective management tool, it would need to be done annually, and it’s not cheap. The CRD spent $272,000 in the 2014/15 fiscal year, with $50,000 spent on the 2015 cull in Oak Bay alone—for the cull of only 11 deer. It’s going to get very costly, very quickly, if a significant number of deer would need to be culled annually.

As an alternative, we’re assessing whether birth control (that’s right, birth control—known as immunocontraception or IC) may be a more cost-effective alternative. Getting those deer on birth control will decrease a population gradually, avoiding the fast population growth rates that a cull can produce. For the capture and collaring of the deer in this study, to date, the cost of the vet’s time on this project has been only $6,000 for over 2.5 times the number of deer handled in the 2015 cull. So for the same amount spent in 2015, we’ll be able to IC a very large proportion of the deer population—so we expect this to be much more effective than that cull was. As a bonus, we expect that IC won’t need to be repeated annually—we’re still trying to figure out how often it will need to be administered, but projected cost savings—to achieve the same goals as a cull, without the problems with rebound population growth—are significant.

The issue of urban wildlife management, as in the case of urban deer in Oak Bay, is an extremely divisive issue. Some residents are quite vocal in their desire to have all deer eradicated from within the municipalities that were built within the deer’s native habitat.

Yet other residents enjoy their interactions with wildlife and find the suggestions of eradication to be ridiculous.

The vast majority of residents likely fall in the middle—those that are not willing to speak up because they don’t feel strongly either way.

Some residents call for deer eradication (red heart), some want them saved (green heart). The vast majority fall somewhere in the middle.

In 2016 Oak Bay administered a General Satisfaction Survey that included a question on deer. Of the 400 respondents, there was an approximately 50/50 split on culling deer, and of those that supported a cull, their response was based on the information that “a humane cull” was the only option available. Given that the method of culling deer involves trapping, bolt gunning and slitting the throat of deer, it is reasonable to think that of those that do support a lethal cull, would prefer a non-lethal method.

Also, keep in mind that based on the 2016 census there are 18,094 residents in Oak Bay. Those 400 survey respondents account for only 2.2% of the population of Oak Bay. So then we know that ~1% of the people love the deer, and ~1% hates the deer. The VAST majority didn’t respond because they didn’t feel strongly —that means the deer are not an issue for them. They either tolerate the deer or aren’t upset by them—but that means that these residents don’t feel any action needs to be taken to deal with the deer.

When you consider that 1) this middle-ground majority of residents either enjoy the urban wildlife as it currently is or 2) those residents vocal about conserving wildlife—even within municipal limits—that means that the MAJORITY of residents within Oak Bay would not like to see the deer eradicated from the landscape.

It is precisely because this majority of residents in greater Victoria prefer to coexist with urban wildlife that we are working with the municipalities of Oak Bay and Esquimalt to find humane, non-lethal and non-eradication methods of urban wildlife management. Indeed, these methods will help to inform effective wildlife management throughout all the municipalities of Greater Victoria and across Vancouver Island.

That’s one of the reasons why our research is so important. We want to help the municipalities of Greater Victoria find effective, long-term solutions to co-existing with wildlife right here within their native range. Stay tuned next week for more information.

Our friends at Watch For Wildlife (W4W) have a reminder for all of us now that it’s that time of year again. “That time of year” means rutting time when bucks are looking for romance. Mating season can cause deer to be bolder and less apprehensive of people. And since they’re a bit preoccupied looking for a lovely doe, they may cross roads more carelessly.

Deer are most active at dawn and dusk, and as the days are getting shorter it means drivers are on the roads more often at this time. Coupled with an increased boldness of bucks during the rut, it’s important that drivers take a few steps to reduce the likelihood of collisions, including:

pay extra attention while driving and obey the speed limit, especially where visibility may be reduced, or in areas that you aren’t familiar with the road

scan ahead and look for movement or the reflection of eyes from the side of the road

slow down if you see an animal, even a slight reduction in speed can give an animal enough time to get out of the way

We presented and update on our research to Oak Bay Council on Monday night. If you’d like to know how things are progressing, please watch the recording available from the District of Oak Bay website. Our presentation is the 5th item on the agenda, starting at approximately 13 minutes (you can access the slides by clicking on the Agenda on the right side of the screen).

Join us on Sunday, June 17 for a Father’s Day Garden Party Tour. All proceeds from the event will support the BC SPCA’s Wild ARC and the Urban Wildlife Stewardship Society (UWSS) for local wildlife care, wildlife research and veterinary services.

The UWSS was so pleased to have the expertise of Dr. Joanna Burgar on our field team for the first week of the capture and GPS collar phase of the Oak Bay/Provincial/UWSS project! Dr. Burgar specializes in wildlife and restoration ecology. Please read her blog post on tracking urban deer to manage human-wildlife conflicts: It’s all about the bling! Tracking urban deer to manage human-wildlife conflicts.

The capture and collar phase of an innovative new approach to managing urban deer in Oak Bay wrapped up last month having hit all its targets.

Managed by the Victoria-based Urban Wildlife Stewardship Society (UWSS) and powered by a team of scientists, wildlife veterinarians, biologists, graduate students, animal behaviourists and community volunteers, the project captured, radio-collared and released 20 does within the municipality of Oak Bay Feb. 18–March 23, 2018. It’s the next step towards a UWSS program to start later this year—testing the effectiveness of contraceptives to manage urban deer populations.

The first phase of the program will provide important information on the ecology of urban deer that has not been known before now. An understanding of movement patterns, density, and population size will be developed.

Twenty does were successfully sedated and assessed by an experienced wildlife vet and an expert wildlife biologist and their team. Sedated does were fitted with GPS collars with colour-coded tags for future identification—all weighing less than 1 lb. in total. After being fitted with their collars, a reversal drug was administered and the does were monitored until they were on their feet and stable. Once the doe was sedated, the entire process took no more than half an hour. Five bucks were also ear tagged, but were not fitted with GPS collars.

Images of deer, collared or not, are being collected both through 1) voluntary submissions by Oak Bay residents, and 2) captured by trail cameras throughout Oak Bay that have been placed with homeowners permission. These data will be compiled and analyzed along with the GPS data, to give an accurate “picture” of urban deer population size and space use in the community.

The second phase of the project aims to gradually reduce the population of indigenous Columbian black-tailed deer in Oak Bay to sustainable levels through a science-based, non-lethal approach. A contraceptive vaccine will be administered to female deer, preventing fawn births without creating vacant territory into which other deer can move. If successful, the project will serve as an effective, community-supported template for urban deer management around North America.

The scientific research is required prior to implementing a non-lethal deer reduction program and is funded by the District of Oak Bay and the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resources and Rural Development through the Provincial Urban Deer Shared Cost Program. The work is being conducted by the UWSS, a volunteer non-profit society of biologists, animal specialists, educators, and professionals.

The UWSS would like to thank homeowners, Oak Bay Council, our team of volunteers, and the Oak Bay community for their support. Please watch for information on our upcoming Garden Tour on June 17!

To find out more, and to submit citizen science photos of the deer you see around Oak Bay, please visit uwss.ca.